The Adventurer (I) (1917)

The Little Tramp escapes from prison; saves a girl and her mother from drowning; and creates havoc at a swank party.

Stars:

Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Charles Chaplin	...	The Convict
Edna Purviance	...	The Girl
Eric Campbell	...	The Suitor
Henry Bergman	...	The Father
Albert Austin	...	The Butler

Storyline

Charlie escapes from prison. After rescuing a girl and her mother from drowning, Charlie is invited to their home where a big party is held and he is treated like a hero. However, as a result Charlie's photo is printed in the newspapers and the prison guards come after him.

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Plot Keywords:

drowning | rescue | newspaper | false identity | pajamas | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Short

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 October 1917 (USA)

Also Known As:

El aventurero

Filming Locations:

Chaplin Studios - 1416 N. La Brea Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lone Star Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

24 min 24 min 24 min (restored) 20 min (Ontario)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The last of twelve films Charles Chaplin made while he was under contract with the Mutual Film Corporation.

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Goofs

When the 2 large men fall into the ocean from the pier (Eric Campbell and Henry Bergman), Campbell is rescued twice, but Bergman is never rescued.

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Quotes

Title Card: [closing title card] The prison guard is also being entertained.

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Connections

Referenced in Le maître d'école (1981)

User Reviews

Oh Charlie, how wonderful

When I was a young boy (about five years old), my parents couldn't afford a TV and, in order to give me entertainment, my dad bought a second hand silent cine projector and showed me some silent westerns (which I have all but forgotten) and - oh joy, oh bliss - the Essanay and Mutual Chaplin films. The greatest of these - by a long way, in my estimation is 'The Adventurer' indeed, it is one of the very few short films worthy of the term 'masterpiece'.

The Adventurer is a sonata on the number 3. There are three main locations - the beach, the pier and the house. The cliff location in the beach scene is triangular, Charlie and his two pursuers make an hilarious trio, with every combination of characters and apexes of the triangle being explored...

Then we go onto the pier... There we have three sub-locations - the top of the pier, the car and the sea. Charlie explores all of these and then moves onto the house.

Here we also have three locations - upstairs, downstairs and the terrace. You can see dozens of other 'threes' in the film, but the coda, in which Charlie is chased three times round the set is like the delirious coda to Mozart's 41st Symphony when the orchestra seem to take off. There is noting like it in all cinema.

Of course I had no idea about all this subtlety when I was a kid, I just looked and laughed in wonder and said with a pleading thrill in my voice.... 'Play it again, Dad.'

Without these wonderful Chaplin films, I doubt that I would have given my life to the cinema for the last fifty years.